July greetings to my friends of the Featherstones Comfort Pad!
And what a fantastic summer it’s been, here in our little corner of the world. The weather has been superb, we’ve enjoyed some great beach and pool time, and we just returned from a few days in Provincetown with a good friend who has a home there. What a wonderful ooph, let-down getaway! 😊
No one has been able to go down beach, where the federally protected piping plovers and least terns are nesting and fledging, whether here at home or in P-town (the birds should be gone around mid-August), but beaching has still been fun, the water is warming, and we’re tanning carefully but nicely, thank you very much.
We hope wherever you are, whatever your outside pleasures may be, that this summer finds you well, happy and healthy, and that you’re getting a moderate share of natural vitamin D!
Here’s a picture Scott took of me at Ciro & Sal’s restaurant in Provincetown – so good!
Now we can tell you!
In June we shared the awesome news that we finally, after months of development, shipped our first order of Comfort Pads to a major hospital for use in its MRI department. We were hesitant to say who it was under the detailed non-disclosure clause of our vendor agreement. We have since, however, received written permission to use the institution’s name casually – just not in formal marketing campaigns.
So, we’re quite excited to let our friends know that the Comfort Pad is now being used to provide comfort for patients at Boston Children’s Hospital! Yes, that one!!! BCH is an iconic institution in our area, one of the world-class hospitals that put Boston at the top of the medical field. We are thrilled that they took so ardently to the Comfort Pad for its ability to provide comfort in MRI uses for adults and children, unlike anything they’d ever used – at a much lower cost.
An extensive report by BCH MRI techs talks about how much easier it is for them to position tender bodies with the Comfort Pad and makes the patient’s experience much more comfortable. They could not have made that more clear!
Needless to say, we’re working up plans to hopefully develop more institutional users of our patented product. We expect fall of 2022 to be a very exciting and fulfilling time for Featherstones LLC!
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Referral Carry Bag ships!
Many thanks for your referrals during our Summer Super Sale event! It was a pleasure to send out that first Carry Bag to a Comfort Pad friend whose recommendation resulted in a CP sale. We’ve had a number of sales at our special summer prices and welcome the opportunity to send a free CP Carry Bag to anyone who refers a buying customer. Just let us know who it is (email leigh@featherstonesinc.com or the customer can mention it in the online buying process), and when the sale is confirmed we’ll pop a Carry Bag right into the mail to you! (Please note – one Carry Bag per referring person.)
Just send your friends to https://featherstonesinc.com/comfort-pad to place their online orders during this limited time sale. And don’t forget, their orders will ship for free to anywhere in the USA!
Your referrals, and also your ratings and reviews on the website, are super important to us as we continue to get the word out – we want to thank you sincerely for helping the cause! As we say in our social media campaigns: “Featherstones – pass the word!”
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The 3 to-do’s!
Scott always gets a kick when he sees his optometrist, a friend of many years. The doctor’s parting words are always the same: “Remember – wear sunglasses; use sunscreen; Mediterranean diet.”
His message works! We always wear sunglasses outside on sunny days; we have nice color this summer, but we’ve been careful to apply sunscreen 30 minutes before going outside for best protection; and, as I’ve written before, we love Mediterranean dishes and have them regularly. But – we decided to check in with one of our favorite health resources, Johns Hopkins Medical School’s website, www.hokinsmedicine.org. Here’s how they weigh in.
Wear sunglasses
“Wearing UV protection sunglasses can help shield your eyes from overexposure to ultraviolet light, which is associated with development of cataracts, macular degeneration, pterygium (or surfer’s eye, an abnormal growth on the white of the eye) and photokeratitis (sunburned eyes). Effective ‘shades’ don’t have to be expensive: Any sunglasses that provide 95% to 100% UV protection offer protection.”
Use sunscreen
“One of the last things you’re thinking about when you’re relaxing on the beach is the possibility of developing skin cancer later in life. But how you care for your skin now – and your children’s – may make a big difference down the road. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the world, accounting for almost half of cancer cases.
“According to the American Cancer Society, about 3.5 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year. Wearing sunscreen properly and consistently – applying broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or more – can lower your risk.”
Mediterranean diet
“Fish instead of fried chicken. Brown rice instead of a white-flour roll. A handful of nuts instead of chips. Olive oil instead of butter. And plenty of vegetables and fruit. Easy food swaps like these put the heart-healthy, life-extending power of the Mediterranean diet on your plate – simply and deliciously.
“Just how much impact can diet have? A Mediterranean style of eating reduced heart disease risk by 28 to 30 percent in a large 2013 study from Spain. But you don’t have to live near the Mediterranean to get the benefits. In a 2013 study that tracked a diverse group of 6,229 American women and men, ages 44 to 84, for eight years, Johns Hopkins researchers and others found that a Mediterranean-style diet combined with regular exercise, a healthy weight, and not smoking protected against early heart disease, slowed the build-up of plaque in artery walls, and reduced risk for an early death by 80 percent.”
There is much more info on these topics on their website – just use the search bar to look it up.
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Joyful July recipe
We have been grateful consumers of fabulous blueberries from our local farmstand, and also the grateful recipients of our neighbor’s generosity as an ardent picker of local blueberries. Woo hoo, lucky us! We eat fresh blueberries daily, we’ve made blueberry pancakes, and now we’re going to make my mom’s recipe for Blueberry Bramble. 😊
Sharon “Missy” Randall was a July baby, so great timing with all the fabulous July blueberries! Here’s her recipe, as written by hand in 2005.
Missy’s Blueberry Bramble
Ingredients
1/4 C. marg. – I use Mrs. Filbert’s (lol, feel free to substitute butter!)
3/4 C. light brown & white sugar mix
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. whole milk
2 C. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C. blueberries
Topping
1/4 C. soft margarine (or butter 😊)
1/2 C. light brown sugar
1/3 C. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (I use more)
Cream soft oleo & sugar. Beat until light. (When’s the last time you saw “oleo?” We use butter.)
Add egg and vanilla. Beat well.
Sift flour (can you still do that, lol?), baking powder, salt together.
Add dry ingredients to wet, alternating with milk – beat until smooth.
Fold berries into mix.
Put into greased 9” square or loaf pan.
Make crumb topping
Blend ingredients well. Place over batter – there will be spaces between topping – but it will all cover the top once it is in a hot oven.
Bake 375ᵒ / 35-40 minutes (usually more like 50 for me)
Enjoy!
This is all just as Missy wrote it. I can remember well her making this – she was such a good cook! And, oh, the memories this recipe brings in that little, loving kitchen! I hope you give it a try and share with your loved ones. We took a Blueberry Bramble to a neighborhood party this weekend and it was a huge hit!
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Well, here we are already! Thanks for joining in a fun reflection of our business and goings on. We’d love to hear from you and are always happy to pass along good ideas, tips and recipes! As ever, please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you think might enjoy it – if they like it, they can sign up at https://featherstonesinc.com.
We are so very grateful for your support as we grow the Featherstones Comfort Pad line. From our hearts to yours! Be well!!! [heart emoji]
With love, Leigh
PS, For you social media fans, we post regularly online. You can follow the Featherstones Comfort Pad pages: @featherstones.comfort.pad on Instagram and @FeatherstonesComfortPad on Facebook. We post twice a day five days a week, a mix of business and fun.
And we’re sincerely grateful to receive your reviews and ratings on our product pages – they are super helpful in our marketing!
Thank you!!!